Teams from all State’s and territories will meet in Cairns for the 2013 Championships
The 2013 AFL Women’s National Championships will be staged in Cairns. Featuring teams from all States and Territories, the biennial event brings together the nation’s most talented female footballers for a week-long carnival.
Speaking on the final day of the KooGa AFL Queensland Women’s State Championships, AFL Cairns CEO Gary Young said it was a great result for Far North Queensland.
“Cairns will be the first regional centre to host the AFL national women’s championships, and it is also the first time in the history of the championships that they have been held in Queensland.
It’s fantastic for Cairns to have another national sports event on our calendar and I’m sure the interstate teams will be looking forward to the chance to compete up here,” Young said.
The national championships complete the pathway for young women playing AFL. Since 2010, the growth in women’s and girls AFL has seen participants grow from 16,000 to 96,000 players nationally, with over 6,700 of them in Queensland. Almost a quarter of the 27,000 NAB AFL Auskick participants in the State are girls.
AFL Female Programs Manager Jan Cooper is also excited about the opportunity to bring the Championships to Far North Queensland.
“Queensland have been a tough competitor at the last few Championships, finishing third at the previous event in 2011. The AFL is really pleased to be able to stage the event in Cairns next year and to continue to promote the opportunities to play AFL to young women and girls,” she said.
The timing of the Championships in 2013 is still to determined and will take into account AFL fixtures and other representative football events in Queensland.
The State Championships wrapped up on Sunday at Cazaly’s Stadium, with Cairns taking out the title over South East Queensland.
Cairns forward Staci Trindle-Price was named player of the carnival.
This year a Youth Girls competition has started in Cairns, offering young women aged 13 to 16 years the chance to try the game in a competitive format, with no existing skills required. Anyone wanting to play AFL should contact the AFL Cairns office on 4042 3000.
